Investigation into alleged racist, antisemitic rant by Pikesville principal still ongoing, district superintendent says
BALTIMORE - It's been almost two weeks since a disturbing audio recording posted to social media rocked the Pikesville High School community.
The voice on the recording is alleged to be that of Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert making racist and antisemitic comments about students and members of the community.
Tuesday morning, Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers gave an update on the ongoing investigation into where the recording came from.
"When we are able to provide details without compromising the investigation, we will," Rogers said.
Rogers says two administrators have been called in to help assist staff at the school.
"Ms. Kyria Joseph, Executive Director for High Schools and Dr. George Roberts, Consulting Administrator, are serving as the lead administrators in the building," Rogers said.
When asked if Eiswert was on leave, Rogers wouldn't give a direct answer.
"I'm not going to comment," Rogers said. "You can refer back to my last statement in terms of the steps that we took with the principal."
WJZ has been trying to find out where the recording came from.
We stopped by Eiswert's home on Jan. 17, shortly after the recording was released, to see if he had a comment.
A person spoke to us through the front door, first telling us Eiswert was not home. Then, the person told us, "He wants to know what side you're on, I guess."
The person then says, "Nobody is going to believe his story anyway, so it doesn't really matter."
There's also been speculation that the recording was generated using AI, so WJZ contacted an expert to see if that was the case.
He told us in this day and age, it's easy to fabricate recordings like this one using simple tools found on the internet, so it's hard to know if the recording is legit.
"I don't think you can say that This is an authentic recording, and that's not to say that it's fake," University of California, Berkley Professor Hany Farid said. "Notice that I was very careful with my wording here. I don't think you can say it's real. And, I think before we say it's real, and have serious consequences if it's real, of course, we need more information."
Rogers said there is no timetable for when the investigation into the recording will be finished.
She also said there have been resources offered to students and staff inside the school since this recording surfaced.
